Thursday, July 5, 2012

July 5

On this day in 1987, Scot Nielsen cruised to his second victory of the season and a complete game, as the White Sox annihilated the Indians in Cleveland by the score of 17-0.

Everybody had hits, even Daryl Boston, the pinch runner. Ken Williams had the highlight of his career with a home run and four RBI. Harold Baines also contributed with four RBI. One of the amazing things about the lopsided score is that the White Sox only had three walks! The damage wasn't limited to Indian starter Phil Niekro. Every Cleveland pitcher gave up runs that game.

Nielsen scattered just six hits, walked one and struck out three. While Scott spent all of 1987 in the White Sox organization, playing in nineteen games with the parent club, the only card featuring him in the White Sox organization is a minor league card for the Hawaii AAA team, which I have not actually seen. I haven't even run across a photo of him on the White Sox yet. This easily stands as one of the highlights of Nielsen's career.